Travel
24 Hours In… Rome
Rome openerRome is a living museum packed with world-famous sites, but the Italian capital holds so much more than the Colosseum and the Vatican, which loom so large that they eclipse small, spectacular destinations that hide in plain sight.
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24 Hours In… Rome.
Roscioli Caffe9am, Get A Caffeine Fix – Romans aren’t early risers, and the city doesn’t really wake up until 9am, when coffee shops are slammed with customers taking shots of espresso and nibbling on subtly sweet pastries called cornetti. I love swinging by Roscioli Caffe for a freshly pulled, beautifully balanced espresso. Here, they go beyond the classic cornetto offerings and serve maritozzi, buns filled with whipped cream – a blast from the Roman breakfast past that was once the wake-up food of choice for locals. rosciolicaffe.com
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24 Hours In… Rome.
Farnesina9:30am, Raphael Without The Crowds – While most visitors are being stuffed like sardines into the Vatican Museums’ narrow galleries, I prefer to spend the morning visiting places where the same Renaissance masters who worked in the Vatican also executed work for famous patrons. The Villa Farnesina in Trastevere, which was built for the banker Agostino Chigi, features ambitious frescoes by Raphael. The vivid colours of the master’s works render powerful mythological subjects and, in spite of their beauty, attract shockingly few visitors. villafarnesina.it [Photo: Wikimedia Commons]
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24 Hours In… Rome.
Orto Botanico10:30am, Breathe Some Fresh Air – At first glance, Rome appears to be made strictly of brick and stone, but turn a corner and you might encounter one of the many parks and green spaces that populate the city. A short walk from the Villa Farnesina, the Orto Botanico (botanical garden) fills a lush swath of Trastevere and climbs up the ancient Janiculum Hill. The garden is home to hundreds of species that thrive in Rome’s moderate climate and create an unexpected oasis in the heart of a centuries-old district. uniroma1.it/ortobotanico
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24 Hours In… Rome.
San Pietro in Montorio11:30am, Take A Hike – Follow Via Garibaldi uphill from Trastevere to San Pietro in Montorio, a small church with a sweeping view over the city. Inside the church’s cloister stands the Tempietto di Bramante, a centrally planned building inspired by ancient architecture and designed by one of the leading architects of the Renaissance. Bramante, in fact, was the first architect of ‘new’ St Peter’s Basilica (the ancient church was leaning off its foundations by 1500). The austere beauty of Bramante’s Tempietto is only amplified by its quiet surroundings and meagre visitor count. sanpietroinmontorio.it [Photo: David Macchi/Flickr]
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24 Hours In… Rome.
Litro1:30pm, Break For Lunch – Continue climbing the Janiculum – don’t miss another panoramic view in front of the Fontanone, a hundred yards from San Pietro in Montorio – and head to Litro, a wine bar and café in the posh Monteverde district. The menu features salads bursting with produce from nearby farms, while the cured meat and cheese plates look a bit further afield to small producers throughout Italy. The hot dishes typically feature a small but creative selection of artisan pastas by local pasta celebrity Mauro Secondi. vinerialitro.it
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24 Hours In… Rome.
Villa Doria Pamphil3pm, Walk It Off – Walk off lunch with a stroll though the Villa Doria Pamphilj, a former private estate turned public park. The sprawling grounds are great for people-watching, and visitors can choose from the setting of their choice: a lawn with manicured shrubbery gives way to a grassy meadow, beyond which towering umbrella pines offer shade to lounging Romans. This is also one of the few places in town where you will encounter joggers, so don’t rule out juggling the itinerary a bit to visit the park for an early morning run before coffee at Roscioli Caffe. [Photo: David Macchi/Flickr]
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24 Hours In… Rome.
Gracchi5pm, Treat Yourself! – Treat yourself to a late-afternoon pick-me-up with a couple of scoops of gelato at Gelateria dei Gracchi (several locations). I love the gelato shop just off Piazza del Popolo on Via di Ripetta, thanks to its proximity to some of my favourite churches and monuments. I go for the pistachio and the hazelnut – even a small cup comes with two scoops. gelateriadeigracchi.it
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24 Hours In… Rome.
Ara Pacis5.30pm, Old Meets New – A few blocks southwest of Piazza del Popolo resides one of Rome’s few modernist buildings, the 2006 Ara Pacis Museum. The glass and limestone building was designed by American Architect Richard Meier and replaced an existing museum, which held the 1st-century BC Altar of Peace. The ancient building’s modern container lets in plenty of daylight, creating a gorgeous display of chiaroscuro on the altar’s marble reliefs. en.arapacis.it [Photo: Andy Hay/Wikimedia Commons]
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24 Hours In… Rome.
Jerry Thomas7:00pm, That’s The Spirit! – Rome’s nascent cocktail scene is driven by the mixologists behind The Jerry Thomas Project, a small speakeasy in the historic centre. A table at the bar is hard to come by (and the place doesn’t open until 10pm), but just across the street from the landmark venue, the owners have opened a small shop selling their own liquors and aromatised wines. Pick up a few bottles for your home bar after sampling at the counter. facebook.com/jerrythomasemporium
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24 Hours In… Rome.
Salumeria Roscioli8:00pm, Wine And Dine – Salumeria Roscioli isn’t exactly a secret – this wine bar and restaurant is smack in the middle of town on one of Rome’s busiest streets. What is a secret is how to navigate the vast menu. Stick to the cheeses and cured meats (the burrata is spectacular, and the mortadella with shaved Parmigiano may change your life). Follow these up with a plate of gricia (pasta dressed with cured pork jowl, Pecorino Romano cheese, and black pepper or carbonara – basically gricia plus egg) and round out the meal with one of the excellent grappas on the list. salumeriaroscioli.com
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24 Hours In… Rome.
Grande BellezzaWatch Before You Go – La Grande Bellezza: Paolo Sorrentino’s 2013 Academy Award-winning film flawlessly captures the city’s beauty, decadence and tension, a potent cocktail that typifies the complicated lives of Rome dwellers. imdb.com
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24 Hours In… Rome.
Pines of RomeListen Before You Go – Ottorino Respighi’s “The Pines of Rome”, a symphonic poem featuring four movements, each devoted to the city’s famous pines in different places throughout the day (the third movement is set on the aforementioned Janiculum Hill!). youtube.com
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24 Hours In… Rome.
SPQRRead Before You Go – Mary Beard’s S.P.Q.R. Named for an ancient Latin phrase (the initialism of ‘Senātus Populus que Rōmānus’, or ‘The Roman Senate and People’) that still appears on trash bins, manhole covers and lamp posts, Beard’s engaging portrait of Rome distills the city’s complex politics, economy and social dynamics into approachable prose. amazon.co.uk
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24 Hours In… Rome.
Katie ParlaKatie Parla is a Rome-based food and travel writer. She has written and contributed to more than 20 books, including the cookbook Tasting Rome, and is working on another cookbook devoted to the lost and disappearing dishes of Italy’s deep south. Keep up with her on her website, katieparla.com
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24 Hours In… Rome.
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